For Nev. Man, `Buckle Up' Also Applies To Pets

December 24, 1990|by TIM BLANGGER, The Morning Call

Gary "Train" Murray will never forget that trip from Lake Tahoe to his hometown of Reno, Nev., a few years ago. An auto accident changed his life forever and ended the life of his Highland terrier, Sweetheart.

The car "just blew a tire, went off the road and hit a tree," Murray said matter-of-factly. Sweetheart struck the wind

shield.

Murray was wearing his seat belt. "It was one of the few times I actually wore one," he said last week in a phone interview.

Sweetheart wasn't as lucky. She died in his arms.

But the accident moved Murray to design the Pet Love Belt, a belt system for dogs and cats that protects them as they ride in the passenger compartment of a car or truck.

Murray, who gets his nickname from his 6-foot-7 frame, which weighs in at 340 pounds, says the belt allows the pet enough mobility to stand or sit, but not enough to jump onto the floor or out a window.

The pet belt costs about $11.50. It's a nylon leash and harness device that fits around the pet's chest and legs.

The belt has been a good seller, but it is lives -- both pet and human -- that Murray says he wants to save:

"All I'm trying to do is save lives. I'm not out to make money on this."

When Murray saw Barbara and George Bush emerge with their dog, Millie, from a presidential helicopter, he sent a belt and a letter to Millie, whose "Millie's Book" (As dictated to Barbara Bush) is currently No.5 on The New York Times best-seller list. Mrs. Bush wrote Murray back, on Millie's behalf of course, thanking him for the gift.

After the initial success of the Pet Love Belt, Murray received requests from several California residents. They wanted a similar device for dogs who ride in the back of pickup trucks. The state had passed a law in 1988 requiring dogs in the back of pickup trucks be restrained.

The existing options were not good ones, Murray said. Plastic animal containers "will microwave the pets" in the desert heat, Murray said. Metal cages hurt the dog's feet, especially when the vehicle rounds a curve.

So, Murray invented a Pickup Belt, a $6.75 attachment to the Pet Love Belt. The Pickup Belt tethers the animal in the back of a truck. Like the Pet Love Belt, the Pickup Belt allows the animal a degree of mobility.

For his part, Murray isn't crazy about the idea of dogs riding in the back of pickup trucks. He'd rather have them inside the cab with the driver, wearing a Pet Love Belt.

"But, the people asked me to help them out, and I did," Murray says.

The Pickup Belt may have cost Murray the endorsement of the Nevada Humane Society, but Murray says there's more to the story.

When the Pet Love Belt first sold, it was through the Nevada Humane Society, among other outlets. (It's still available from California Pacific Research Inc., 1-800-541-5703).

The society no longer sells or endorses the Pet Love Belt, according to executive director Mark McGuire, because of some confusion between that belt and the Pickup Belt, which it never endorsed.

The society did not support the Pickup Belt because the animal secured in it would not be protected from flying debris and other dangers, McGuire said. The state society recommends that pets riding in pickup trucks beds be secured in a carrier of some type.

Murray says the reason why the state society does not endorse the product has more to do with internal politics than pet safety.

The Humane Society of the United States, the national organization, does not endorse products as such, according to spokeswoman Helen Mitternight, a former aide to U.S. Rep. Don Ritter, R-15th.

"Pet Love Belt sounds like an animal birth-control device, and we'd actually be in favor of that," Mitternight said.

However, "We recommend that pets travel in carriers," Mitternight said. "We don't recommend that pets be allowed to be loose inside a vehicle in any case."